Combined letter and envelope with juxtaposed pair of three-ply folded corners



1959 M. B. LOETSCHER 2,873,906

COMBINED LETTER AND ENVELOPE WITH JUXTAPOSED PAIR OF THREE-FLY FOLDED CORNERS Filed April 16, 195'? 26% g 2| g 24 D (ADoRsssoR) (Aooasssee) J J 6 27 c 22 (CORRESPCSNDENCE) INVENTOR.

MARTIN B-LOETSCI-IER BY MFW ATTORNEYS sheet together.

COMBINED'LETTER AND ENVELOPE WITH lTPRgSED PAIR OF THREE-PLY FOLDED COR- Martin B. Loetscher, Sacramento, Calif.

Application April 16, 1957, Serial No. 653,080

1 Claim. (Cl. 22992.1)

The present invention relates to improvements in a combined letter and envelope with juxtaposed three-ply folded corners. It consists of the article of manufacture hereinafter described'and claimed.

In my copending application on a Combined Letter-and Envelope, Serial No. 461,191, filed in the United States Patent Ofiice on October -8, 1954, now Patent No. 2,805,815, there is disclosed a conventional letter size sheet, which is folded in such a way that it forms an envelope. The folded envelope shown therein is sealed by gummed strips to thus hold the several plies of the folded In making the folds it is folded in such a manner that a minimum of two thicknesses of unwritten paper is presented over the correspondence on both the front and back of the envelope.

Moreover, in the copending case, the sheet is divided into eight equal areas by means of horizontal and vertical fold lines, thus providing areas for containing data as to the addressor and addressee, as well as appropriate areas forthe correspondence.

As shown in the copending case, the arrangement of the gummed strips and the folding of the sheet were such that only one of the corners ofthe sealed envelope could be utilized for opening up the envelope. This corner is provided with two four-ply corner portions, which are arranged to be individually gripped and pulled apart for tearing the sealing strips and opening the envelope.

The present invention, however, provides a sheet having the conventional width but it is somewhat shorter in length. This sheet has horizontal and vertical fold lines, which divide it into an upper pair of areas, an'intermediate pair of areas, and a lower pair of areas. The upper pair of areas are adapted to contain data as to the addressor and addressee, respectively; while the intermediate pair of areas of the front face of the sheet are adapted to contain correspondence. The rear face of the sheet is provided with areas corresponding with those on the front face. Both the lower, pair and the intermediate pair of areas on the rear face are adapted to contain additional correspondence. When the sheet is folded into an envelope, a minimum .of two plies of paper are provided over the correspondence.

Upon folding the sheet into an envelope, a pair of juxtaposed wings of three plies each are provided. These wings have a common corner, each of these wing corners having three plies of paper. The gummed strips are arranged in such a manner that the common corner of the wings may be grasped and pulled apart for tearing the strips and opening the envelope.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds, and the novel features will be set forth in the appended claim.

Drawings part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a front face view of the open sheet prior 2,873,906 Patented Feb. 1'], 1959 ice to being folded into an envelope, the sheet being provided with three gummed-sealing strips;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line HII of Figure 1;

Figure 3 discloses the sheet after the lower pair of areas have been folded rearwardly;

Figure MS a vertical sectional view taken along theline I IV-IV of Figure 3;

Figure 5 illustrates the sheet after the further folding thereof so that only the upper pair of areas will be exposed on the front face; 7

Figure 6 discloses a further folding of the sheet to present the final form of the envelope;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the completed .envelope; and

Figure 8 is a plan view of a portion 'ofjone of the gummed sealing strips.

Although I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should be understood that various changes, or modifications, may be made within the .scope of the annexed claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

Detailed description Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be noted that I provide a rectangular-shaped sheet of paper indicated generally at A, the sheet defining top and bottom edges 1 and 2, respectively, and a pair of lateral edges 3 and 4 which form the sides of the sheet. Moreover, the sheet has a front face A and a rear face A (see Figure 2). n i

As shown in Figure l, the sheet A has a first horizontal fold line 5 extending thereacross substantially onethird of the distance up from the bottom edge 2, and a second horizontal fold line 6 extending thereacross substantially one-third of the distance down from the top edge 1 of the sheet. The sheet further has a vertical fold line 7 extending between the top and bottom edges 1 and 2, respectively, which is disposed intermediate the lateral edges 3 and 4.

It will be apparent from Figure 1 that the fold lines 5, 6 and 7 divided the front face A of the sheet A'into an upper pairof areas 8 and 9; an intermediate pair of areas 10 and 11; and a lower pair of areas 12 and 13. As clearly shown, the areas 8, 10 and -12 are arranged at the left portion of the front face, While the areas 9, 11 and 13 are disposed at the right portion of the front face.

The upper pair of areas 8 and 9 are adapted to contain data as to the addressor and addressee, respectively, as suggested by the legends Addressor and Addressee. The intermediate pair of areas "10 and 11 of the front face A are adapted to contain correspondence, which may be Written or typed material, as suggested by. the legend Correspondence in Figures 1 and 3. The lower pair of areas 12 and 13 on the front face preferably are left blank for the reason hereinafter stated.

The rear face A of the sheet A has gareas corresponding with those on the front face A As suggested by the legend Correspondence in Figure '2, additional matter may be written or typed on the rear face of the sheet in back of the areas 10, 11, 12 and 13. V

In forming the sheet A into an envelope, it is initially folded over the rear face A about the horizontal fold line 5, as suggested by the arrows 14 and 15 in Figures 1 and 2, respectively. This step will cover any correspondence on the rear face A in back of the areas 10, 11, 12 and 13. At this stage, the sheet will have the form illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

Next, the sheet is folded over the rear face A about the second horizontal fold line 6 so that the correspond ence on the frontal areas and 11 will be at the back of the thus folded sheet. The arrows 16 and 17 in Figures 3 and 4, respectively, suggest this second folding. At this time, the envelope will be partially formed, as shown in Figure 5, giving two wings W and W each wing being composed of three plies.

As the third step in forming the envelope, the wing W is folded rearwardly about the vertical fold line 7 until this wing is arranged in back of the wing W. This lateral folding of the wings is suggested by the arrow 18 in Figure 5. This will give the envelope shown in Figure 6 of the drawing. At this time, the frontal intermediate areas 10 and 11 containing the correspondence are disposed in confronting relation with one another and are concealed from exterior view, and with the Addressor and Addressee areas 8 and 9, respectively, being exposed on opposite faces of the thus folded envelope.

It will be seen from Figure 1 that three gunnned sealing strips B, C and D are provided on the area 9. These strips are identical with each other. The strip B has been shown in Figure 8, wherein two gummed areas 19 and 20 are clearly illustrated, which are separated by an ungummed area that has a line of perforations 21; provided therein. The gummed area 20 is used for securing approximately one-half of the strip B to the area 9. The line of perforations 21 parallels the top edge 1 of the sheet, as far as the strip B is concerned and is preferable disposed a'slight distance above that edge. The other gummed area 19 is used for sealing to the Addressor area 8, when the sealing strip B is folded over the top edges 1 of the folded sheet.

The second sealing strip C has one-half of its width secured to the lower portion of the area 9 so that its line of perforations 21 parallels the second horizontal fold line 6. The remaining half of the strip C is not secured to the area 11, but merely overlies this area prior to folding the sheet A into an envelope. It will be noted that the right hand end 22 of the second strip C is spaced from the right hand edge 4 of the sheet. This spacing is important and its purpose will be set forth as the specification continues. After the envelope is formed, the strip C is folded over the second horizontal fold line 6 and is secured to the Addressor area 8.

The third sealing strip D has one-half of its width secured to the area 9 and adjacent to the right hand edge 4 of the sheet A so that its lines of perforations 21 will parallel this edge. The remaining half of the strip D extends beyond the edge 4. After the envelope is formed, the sealing strip D is folded over the lateral edges 3 and 4 of the sheet A afid is secured to the area 8. Lower end 23 of the third sealing strip D is spaced from the second horizontal fold line 6 for the purpose to be set forth later.

The completely sealed envelope is illustrated in Figure 7. The end 22 of the second sealing strip C and the end 23 of the third sealing strip D are spaced from each other and expose a pair of three-ply juxtaposed folded corners X and Y located at the second horizontal fold 6. These corners of the wings W and W respectively, may be manually grasped and pulled apart for tearing the sealing strips B, C and D along their respective lines of perforations 21 and opening the envelope.

The envelope cannot be opened at any other point, because the adjacent ends 24 and 25 of the strips B and D, respectively, are disposed adjacent to one another. Also, the left hand ends 26 and 27 of the strips B and C, respectively, are arranged near the vertical fold line 7. This will prevent the opening of the envelope at the corners thereof along the vertical fold 7, and thus the sheet will not be mutilated.

It will be apparent that when the envelope is opened by the addressee, the contents of the correspondence on 1 6 areas 1.0 and 11 will be preserved, as well as any correspondence that may have been placed on the back of the sheet. The entire face side A the rear face A as well as the stamp 28 and its date of cancellation, will be preserved to form a permanent record. It is well known that when a separate envelope is used, it is usually discarded, and thus important information may be lost to the addressee.

The ungummed portion 29 of each of the sealing strips will prevent the latter from sticking to the interior plies of the folded envelope, since only the gummed areas 19 and 20 are actually bonded to the sheet A. The envelope may be sold in a flat condition, partially folded or completely folded.

I claim:

A combined letter and envelope formed from a rectangular-shaped sheet of paper, the sheet defining top and bottom edges and a pair of lateral edges, the sheet having front and rear faces, said sheet having a first horizontal fold line extending thereacross substantially one-third of the distance up from the bottom edge, and a second horizontal fold line extending thereacross substantially one-third of the distance down from the top edge, the sheet further having a vertical fold line extending between the top and bottom edges which is disposed intermediate the lateral edges, said first, second and third fold lines dividing the front face into an upper ,pair of areas, an intermediate pair of areas, and a lower pair of areas, the upper pair of areas of the front face being adapted to contain data as to an addressor and an addressee, respectively, the intermediate pair of areas of the front face being adapted to contain correspondence, the sheet being initially folded over the rear face of the sheet about the first horizontal fold line, the sheet then being folded over the rear face of the sheet about the second horizontal fold line so that the correspondence will be at the back of the thus folded sheet, said bottom edge of said sheet being positioned intermediate said upper and said intermediate pair of areas adjacent said second horizontal fold line and forming therewith a three ply fold, said sheet then being further folded rearwardly about the vertical fold line so that said intermediate pair of areas containing correspondence are disposed in confronting relation with one another and are concealed from exterior view, said addressor and addressees area being exposed on the thus folded sheet, the rear face of the sheet having areas corresponding with those on the front face, the lower pair of areas and the intermediate pair of areas on the rear face being adapted to contain additional correspondence; a first sealing strip secured to and extending along the top edge of said sheet along one of said upper pair of areas, said first sealing strip being folded over the top edge of the folded sheet and being secured to the other one of said pair of upper areas along its upper edge, a second sealing strip secured to and extending along the same one of said upper areas as the first said strip adjacent said second fold line, said second sealing strip being folded over said second fold line of the folded sheet and being secured to the said other of said pair of upper areas along said second horizontal fold line, a third sealing strip extending laterally of the first and said second sealing strips and being secured adjacent the edge of the same one of said upper pair of areas as the said first sealing strip and being spaced laterally from said vertical fold line, said third sealing strip being folded over the lateral edge portions of the sheet included in the addressor and addressee areas and being secured to these areas adjacent said lateral edge portions, the thus sealed sheet defining a pair of juxtaposed wings of three plies each, the second and third sealing strips terminating in spaced relation to a corner common to all of the plies at said second horizontal fold, whereby the wings may be individually gripped at the common corner and pulled apart for tearing the sealing strips and opening the envelope, at least one of said first and third sealing strips 5 extending along the edge adjacent to which it is attached to the end thereof common to said top edge and said side edges of said sheet and covering the juxtaposed edges of said-envelope thereat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 185,489 Buzby Dec. 19, 1876 6 Kaplan July 12, 1927 McCarthy Feb. 13, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia June 6, 1946 Germany Feb. 20, 1920 Great Britain Feb. 1, 1940 

